Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-04-04
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
Letter from General Manager 4. n.
Towne Concerning the New Law.
MT fIIo,-;,, 1o.to- FROM, C.a,,ara I


Towne Concerning the New Law.
The following letter from General
Manager A. n. Towne of the Southern
Pacific Company, to a prominent business
man of San Francisco, upon the interstate
commerce law, will be of interest to our
readers:
Dear Sir: ] regret that I was so much occu-
| pied yesterday afternoon that / was not able to
| give you answers TO some of your questions
| relative TO the workings of the interstate law,
and in fulfilling my promise TO write you on the
subject do so merely to throw out some hints
regarding a subject know so little about.
am not unmindful of the demoralized con-
dition of things at the present time pertaining
TO toe carriers and their patrons, but the press
and people must be patient and wait. Order
cannot be brought out of chaos in moment.
Such an enormous amount of work as is neces-
sary to change the tariffs from what they were
to those which must prevail under the new law
requires time. We hear complaints OF an ad-
vance of rates on freight to high figures to and
from the Pacific slope This is not true in the
common acceptance of the term. The only
rates to go into effect under the law are sub
stantially combination of various local rates
over connecting lines with a considerable per
centage of reduction on long hauls This tariff
is all right, and substantially what 1t has been
in the past; and the public and the roads Will
be all right If the latter can be assured OF safety
in establishing a competitive tariff, to enable
the people here to ship at low rates, as hereto
fore, until the much-veXed question of the long
and-short-haul provisions is disposed of by the
Commissioners.
Let any one read some of the sections of this
law carefully and ask themselves if they would
care to take the chances, as a railroad company
must of having 100 or more suits per day filed
against them. As an illustration, let the roads,
under the law take a carload of freight from
New York to san Francisco, at say 81 per 100
pounds. to meet ocean competition, and at the
same time take along another car for Denver,
say at 81 so per hundred pounds. The Denver
merchant would doubtless under his construc-
ton of the law, at once set his lawyer at work
at the expense of the railroad company, so far
as fees are concerned-and at the same time,
perhaps manage to have his own clerks drawn
as jurymen; this action to come up before local
Court, who might be more or less imbued with
the false theory that the lesser distance should
not be charged for at a higher rate than one
more remote, even though the latter may have
natural facilities and active competition, all
beyond the reach of the law.
With these things ever before us, no one will
wonder that we are admonished to move with
great caution.
I am aware that the most serious apprehen-
sions are entertained by many relative 10 the
results to come out of this new law, largely on
account of the vague and ambiguous wording
of some of its sections. For instance, take the
term substantially similar circumstances and
conditions y this must be given the most liberal
construction by the Commissioners or the Courts.
l say by the Commissioners or the Courts, for
the reason that the roads cannot safely inter
sire TO do so and the heavy and cumulative
penalties imposed in every case for violation
of the law viii ever be before the carrier; and
for this reason alone YOU Will see that IL is
question which must be determined by others.
And their rulings must be clearly in favor of
tariff which will meet the rates quoted by car
riers not subject to the law. say must, for the
| reason that the public cannot and Will not con-
sent to go back TO the old-time routes of car
| rage, so long as the modern and expeditions
methods can be opened up again under aliberal
7 ufrTas,f as.ff
| laws governing the movement of traffic for the
past. which has come up with the growth and
settlement of the country, must be The basis for
the movement of commerce in the future, and
the sooner this is settled the better it Will be for
the public and the roads as well
The carriers are diligently at work, and viii
be ready to present to the Commissioners in
good time an appeal for recognition ofthe pT1n-
ciple that waer competition must be met by
the roads, and the shippers backed by the press
Of this coast, should at once make themselves
clearly understood in their demands for an
honest, reasonable and intelligent interpreta-
ton of this much-tangled question relating to
long and short hauls. There was much discus
sion in Congress over this ambiguous section of
the law. yet for some reason a clear definition
was net arrived at, or there would likely have
been a change in the wording, making 1t so
clear that any one with fair reasoning capacity
would have understood il. one is almost per-
suaded that the obscure language was chosen
for two purposes First, to convince the people
of the interior that they were to be favored by
to the level of the through competitive rates,
and thereby attempting TO satisfy an unreason-
able clamor; and, second, to as ure at the same
time those favored by the laws Of nature and by
their geograp hical position that they too, would
be protected by their dissmilarly situated con-
dition. And since this was left undecided, who,
except the Commissioners or the Courts, was to
determine It and what degree of elasticity in
the Interpretation of it would be necessary to
accomplish both, and satisfy the people OF the
interior of this vast country, and those as well
on the great water ways?
The carriers have no right to place q less
faVOrably-situated shipper on an equality with
one more favOrably situated; neither has Con-
gress this right; and il is not good, square
business proposition when applied to tranporta-
ton. The people of the Llost favored localities,
namely, those on the coast and along the great
water ways of the interior, make their own
best rates with the carriers by water, and the
railroads must accept this rate as their own 70 r
such competitive traffic, o. they cannot expect
to take il: therefore there fSno reason nor jus
tice in the idea that non-cOmpetitive places
should be favorably considered III the matter of
rates as those places where competition exists
Yet this is what the lawmakers hoped TO ac-
complish, and what the shipper of the interior
of the country expected. The traffic between
the two seaboardS for the last few years has
been largely diverted from the ocean to the
railroad by offering the merchant low rates
and rapid transit. This IS what the shippers
here and the carriers want now under the pro-
visions of the new law, and both look for
a decision accordingly, from the Commissioners
orthe Courts; until that is reached there will
come much harm and embarrassment But we
here will not be alone in our trouble the whole
country compelled so suddenly 10 adapt itself
10 impractical methods for regulation. cannot
avoid the evils which are sure to follow; and
the sooner the Commissioners get together and
Grant the exemption necessary to relieve the
carriers, the better it will be for all.
1t is not true, as charged by some, that the |
railroads are doing all in their power to make |
the law oiious; on the contrary, the roads are |
dong all in their power TO weave the web of |
theirideas ii TO the whole knotty fabric in such |
a manner as to make the final product harmo-
NOUS and without saw
There are other failacious ideas embodied in
the law in its atteulpr to regulate carriers under
the pTsteBse of re yulating commerce, from
whseh confusion and Generalization must come:
yet the principal thing necessary Ior US over
here Is satisfactory deposition of tie question
above particularly referred 10. Your truly,
A. y. TowSE.
san Francisco, March s.. 1887.